Silicones of various structures are well known as ingredients of rinse conditioners to endow softness to fabrics.
U.S. 2002/0147128 discloses stable, aqueous fabric softening compositions which comprise selected polyalkyleneoxy polysiloxanes. The compositions may contain various further optional ingredients. These optional ingredients include perfumes and various selected fabric care polysaccharides.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,990,059 discloses a conditioning shampoo composition for hair and/or skin which comprises a stable microemulsion of a high viscosity, slightly cross-linked silicone with a particle size of <0.15 microns, in combination with a cationic deposition polymer and a surfactant. The cationic deposition polymer is preferably selected from the group consisting of cationic guar gum derivatives and cationic polyacrylamides.
WO 03/028682 discloses shampoo compositions having from about 5 to about 50 weight percent of a detersive surfactant, at least about 0.1 weight percent of non-platelet particles having a particle size of at least 0.1 micron, at least about 0.05 weight percent of a deposition aid, from 0 to about 2.5 weight percent silicone, and at least about 20 weight percent of an aqueous carrier. The deposition aid is preferably a cationic polymer.
Our UK patent application no. 0121148.1, unpublished at the priority date of this invention, describes and claims a substituted β1-4 linked polysaccharide having covalently bonded on the polysaccharide moiety thereof, at least one deposition enhancing group which undergoes a chemical change in water at a use temperature to increase the affinity of the substituted polysaccharide to a substrate, the substituted polysaccharide further comprising one or more independently selected silicone chains. The polysaccharide acts as a vehicle to deposit the silicone chains bound to it, onto the fabric, from a wash liquor.
Our UK patent application no. 0123380.8, also unpublished at the priority date of this invention discloses that such substituted polysaccharides can be incorporated in compositions containing a silicone, per se to enhance deposition of the free silicone.
Further, our UK patent application no. 0228216.8, also unpublished at the priority date of this invention, discloses that perfume can be incorporated into the silicone component of compositions containing such polysaccharides and silicones, in order to enhance deposition of the perfume onto fabrics.
Many silicones that give beneficial fabric softening do not deposit well from detergent compositions because they are too viscous to from a suitable emulsion. This means that the benefit that would be derived from the efficient deposition of such viscous silicones cannot be harnessed from detergent compositions. Therefore, it is often the practice to use a silicone oil or mixture of silicone oils with a low viscosity, e.g. in the range of from 200 to 5,500 mPas. This makes the silicone easier to emulsify and deposit onto fabric. However, we have now found that by modifying the viscosity of viscous silicones that are conventionally too viscous to deposit well onto fabrics from detergent compositions, by the use of a viscosity modifying agent, surprisingly, the deposition of the viscous silicone onto fabrics is greatly improved from detergent compositions.